Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-09-24

81 or customs Again. their appearance and
some q their habits are rather Jewish. Int
here again II seems hardly conceivable that
they should have utterly lost all traces OF the
Jewish religion. still, for aught | know.
they may be one Of the lost ten tribes whom
people are 20 fond Of discovering oil over the
world. or they may not. / do uotknow, and
50 can only describe them as ! find them, and
leave wiser heads than mine 30 make what
they can out Of Il, if indeed thia account
should ever be read at al, which 4 exceed
ingiy doubtfnL 49,
In addition to bting an agricultural people
the zu-Vendi are, oddly enough, excessively
wariike, and as they cannot, from the exi-
gcncy Of their position, make war upon other
nations, they fight among each other like the
famed Kilkenny cats, with Tho happy result
that the population never outgrows thepower
Of the country to support IL This habit Of
theirs Is largely fostered by tho political con
ditlon Of the country. Tho monarchy [ Is
nominally an absolute one, save in so Ear as It
Is tempered by the power OF the priests and
the informal council Of tho great lords; but,
as in many other such institutions, tho kings
writ does not run mquestioned throughout
the iength and breadth OF tho land. e
ZI-Vendis has had its king makers as well
as England, a fact that will be appreciated
when | state that eight different dynasties
have sat upon the throne during tho last
1000 years, every ono OF which took It's rise
from some noble family that succeeded in
grasping the purple after asang0inary strug-
gle At the date Of our arrival In the country
things were alittle better than they had been
for sone centuries, the last king, the father
Of Nyleptha and Sorais, having been an ex-
ceptionally able and vigorous ruler, and, as a
consequence, kept down the power Of the
priests and mobiles. On his death, two years
before We reached zu-V endis, the twin sisters,
his children, were, following an ancient pre-
cedent, called TO the throne, since an attempt
to exclude either would instantly have pro-
voked o sanguhlAry civil war; but IL was
generally felt in the country that this meas
ure was a most unsatisfactory one, and could
hardly be expected 70 be permanent Indeed,
as it was, the various intfigues that were set
on foot by ambitious nphies to obtain the
hand Of one or other of the queens in mar
riage had disquieted the country, and the
general opinion was thai there would be
bloodsied before long. 1
l viii now pass on to the question of the
Zu-Vendi rel yion, which is nothing more or
less than "a worship of a pronounced and
highly developed character. Around this
sun worship is grouped the entire social sys-
tenn of the zu-Vendi. It sends its roots
through every institution and custom Of the
land. From the cradle to the grave the Zu-
vendi follows the sun every sense of the
| word.
The priests of the sun do not marry, but
are recruited by young men specially de-
voted to the work by their parents and sup
| ported by the state. The nomination to the
higher Offices of the priesthood lies with the
crown, but once appointed, the nominees can
not be dispossessed, and 1t Is scarcely too
much to say that they really rule the land.
To begin with, they are a united body sworn
to obedience and secrecy, so hat an order is
sued by the high priest at Milosis will be in
stahtly and unhesitatingly acted UPON by the
resident priest of a little country town three
laor four hundred miles off. They are the
! judges Of the land, criminal and civil, an APP
peal lying only to the lord paramount OF the
district and from him to the king, and they
have, of course, practically unlimited juris.
diction over religious and moral ~offenses, to
gether with a right of accommodation,
which, as in the faiths Of more highly civil
lied lands, Is a very effective weapon. In.
deed, their rights and powers are almost
knnlimited; but ] may as well state here that
the priests Of the sun are wise in their gen
GRAFTON and do not push things too far. It Ii
but very seldom that they go to extremes
against anybody, being more inclined TO ex.
ercise the ~prerogative of mercy than run the
risk Of exasperating the powerful and vigor
GUS minded people on whose neck they have
set their yoke, lest it should rise and break il
off altogether.
Another source Of the power Of the priests
is their practical monopoly Of learning, and
their very considerable Astronomical knowl
edge, which enables them to keep a hold OF
the popular mind BY predicting eclipses ant
even comets. In zu-Vendis only a few of til,
upper classes can read and write, but nearly
all the priests have this knowledge, and al.
therefore looked upon as learned men.
The social system Of the Zu-Vendi allows
considerable liberty to the Individual, pro
vided he does not offend against the laws ant
customs of the country. They are polyga
nous in theory, though most OF them hav,
only one wife IN account of the expense. B,
law a man is bound to provide a separat.
establishment for each wife. The first wit,
also ia the legal wife, and her children al,
said to be "of the house of the father.n Tn
children Ct the other wives are Of the house
Of their respective mothers. This does not
however, imply any slur upon either mothe
or children. Again, a first wife can, o.
entering into the marriage state, make a bar
gain that her husband shall marry no othe
wife. This, however, Is very rarely done, a
the women are the s eat upholders OF polyga
my, which not only provides for their sulplu
numbers, but gives greater Importance to tn
first wife, who is thus practically the head o
several households. Marriage is looked upo
as primarily a civil contract, and, subject t
certain conditions and 20 a proper proyisso
for children, Is dissoluble at the win Of bot
contracting parties, the divorce, or "unloos
ing,r being formally and ceremoniously az
complishel by going through certain portion
of the marriage ceremony backward.
The III vendi are on the whole a yer
kindly, pleasant and light hearted people
They are not great traders, and care littl
about Money, only working to earn elioug
!, to support themselves in that class of life i
which they were born. They ore exceedingl
conservative, and look with disfavor 0
, changes. Their legal tender is silver, cut int
} little squares Of different weights; gold is tl
baser coin, and Is about OF the same value 6
our silver. It is. however, much priced for 4
haartv and larcrplv ueed for ornauante on